Nintendo 2DS Doesn’t Mean Nintendo Are Moving Away From 3D Games

This morning, Nintendo announced the Nintendo 2DS, a low-priced budget version of the Nintendo 3DS without stereoscopic 3D and the clamshell design. However, Nintendo say that the introduction of the 2DS doesn’t mean they’re moving away from 3D gaming or the original 3DS itself.

When asked by US Gamer if the new 2DS represents a shift away from 3D, Nintendo’s vice president of sales and marketing Scott Moffitt replied, “Not at all. Clearly our development efforts all include 3D games. Our installed base, we have eight million units installed. If 3D wasn’t selling and wasn’t part of our future, we wouldn’t be seeing and enjoying the robust sales we have on 3DS right now.”

He elaborates later in the interview, “I’d say that our fan feedback, gamer feedback, has been that they very much enjoy 3D as a feature. Games like Super Mario 3D Land play fabulously well in 3D. There’s a lot of great 3D experiences that gamers have come to love. We don’t want to walk away from that at all.”

Instead, Moffitt says, the decision to remove the 3D screen was driven by the desire to reach the system’s $130 price, which he says wouldn’t have been possible without removing stereoscopic 3D and the clamshell design.

Of course this also means it’s easier to break though since you can’t close the screen to help prevent scratches and etcetera. The original 3DS also has a parental control to turn off 3D. I think that this is more for people who don’t want to pay extra for 3D either because it doesn’t work for them or because they just don’t like it.

d19xx

DS and 3DS hinges are prone to damage when handled by kids. This looks ideal for them. I’m picking up two of these for my nephews.

gomas

nice nikuringo avatar jejejeje

Pyrotek85

I never even thought about the hinge being a real issue since I’m older and I’m careful with my stuff, but I can see it being a problem with kids.

Symbol de Au

Yeah I hadn’t thought of that but I think you’re right.

gomas

suddenly the headline isn`t a joke anymore… It`s practical and smart…

ShawnOtakuSomething

and people who the 3D hurt their eyes. I heard kids saying they hated the 3DS because of the 3d so this is a good move

Bakuryukun

But you don’t need to have the 3D on ever. it’s never forced.

ShawnOtakuSomething

tell that to the kids

http://www.facebook.com/jefriputra Jeff

or to the parents, tell them that 3ds got a parental control to restrict the 3d

Roberto

is just me but this look uncomfortable

DarthSithZero

To be honest design looks horrible

cirE

I don’t know why everyone is going crazy over this.

It’s a budget system for parents to buy their children. It saves them money, they don’t have to worry about putting parental control restrictions on 3D features, and it doesn’t have a hinge so it would be harder for a young child to break.

It’s basically a toy version of the 3DS. I don’t see anything wrong with it, especially considering how many child-friendly games Nintendo has on the 3DS.

Symbol de Au

I guess that’s true. I didn’t think about the hinge.

Pyrotek85

Agreed, I can’t understand all the vitriol I see directed towards this on other sites. It’s not like they’re ditching the other models. This is perfect if you have several kids and want to save a good chunk of money. It’s really not aimed at the people who frequent gaming websites.

Isaac Newton

But I think the price should be at $99 or $75 not $120 in my honest opinion.

JuhRo

or 130…. which is the actual price. :)

Bobby Jennings

Eh, you can get a 3DS for $130..

JuhRo

personally got mine on craigslist for 65$

Altin

Or they shall give them away for free.

Isaac Newton

Yeah you got it right.

XypherCode

It’s still a fairly modern device. So manufacturing costs won’t just go down that fast in just 2 years in the market. $130 is already quite cheap imo.

Anesia Hunter

not in the hands of a 7-year-old it’s not. some little kids are destructive.

XypherCode

Well it’s a lot more troublesome if you give a 7 year old a device with a hinge that’s about $200.

Sardorim

My only issue is the lay out, it looks so painful to use.

chibidw

Part of the problem is that they aren’t doing much of anything to illustrate what their intended demographic even is for this. Even their YouTube intro video is one kid of god-only-knows-what age, followed by a parade of late twenty-somethings sitting around playing it.

That’s not exactly doing anything towards demonstrating that it’s meant for the younger children who shouldn’t be using 3D mode.

cirE

I interpenetrated the video as family situations. One Dad playing Mario Cart with his ~10 year old son, and another playing Animal Crossing with his teenage daughter….

I’m awful at telling age though, so I could be wrong.

PreyMantis

Did you watch the video telling viewers that it’s a great device for kids? Yeah… go watch it.

http://twitter.com/#!/Leafy_Cam Leafhopper

I am not going crazy over it myself, I just find the the form factor of it to be very weird, even aimed at kids I think it would be odd to hold.

Abend

i dont know how strong you think young children are but i doubt they could break the hinge that is made out of nintendium.

DarthSithZero

Coming soon, Nintendo 1DS black and white games with mono audio

http://twitter.com/#!/Leafy_Cam Leafhopper

Game and Watch SD edition

ShawnOtakuSomething

so when are we going to get games that Uses the 3D for gameplay? I hope soon

KonjikinoSora

I’m pretty sure developers aren’t allowed to do that.

J_Joestar

I keep hearing people say that the 3D improves SM3DL. although i don’t know personally if it is true.

ShawnOtakuSomething

I never noticed

idrawrobots

It makes judging distance on jumps better.

Istillduno

On the one hand, yay gameboy is back.

On the other hand those d-pad and button locations look pretty awquard.

Zal_Yagun

Can’t imagine playing Monster Hunter or Kid Icarus(I use my thumb) on this thing

Impressionnant

Hilarious.

Symbol de Au

I just got the joke. It’s called 2DS because the handheld itself is mostly flat.

Guest

Oh, that’s clever!

But I dunno about customers not getting confused by the naming…

ShawnOtakuSomething

oh my god…..lmao

Guest

I think it looks awkward, but that’s reasonable, clamshell design is hard to top.

For my tastes, I’d just like improved ergonomics, y’know, such as improving the comfort of the holding part.

Tenshigami

I just checked today’s date on several devices to be absolutely sure I hadn’t entered some sort of space time anomaly where it’s April 1st.

I am now 100% certain it is August 28th yet I am still having a hard time believing this isn’t some sort of joke.

This is right in that sweet spot between believable and absurd that makes for the perfect April Fools joke.

School Idol Addict

Don’t lose hope yet, maybe we are all in a mass collective dream lol.

JuhRo

I want a 2DS Micro. :)

That said, I’ll stick to my regular 3DS and my, very much more loved, Vita.

protofox

im actually ok with this.. i never use the 3d on my 3ds just cause it hurts my eyes as well as kills the battery. but i will stick my 3ds with its closing design(and extended battery i got) cause it fits ina case/pocket still. and protects the screen

https://twitter.com/Ni_Go_Zero_Ichi Project 2501

Does this mean that 3D will no longer be a mandatory feature for 3DS games?

School Idol Addict

3D never have been mandatory.

Pyrotek85

I almost never use it myself, I don’t stay still enough to keep it at the right distance.

XypherCode

Personally I only turn it off when lying in bed. It’s hard to focus the screen when there’s a pillow behind your head. XD

celery

I’ll admit the design is not visually appealing, and looks almost painful to hold. But it IS targeted at children and I think it’s a great idea for a hingeless, 2D version of the 3DS.

Actually, if it hurts for the kids to hold it, that means that they won’t play for as long periods of time…

NimbusStev

My main question is, how the heck are you going to fit that in your pocket? Based on the pictures, it’s nearly the size of an unhinged 3DS. Kinda takes the portability out of the portable system…

http://blog.ceddychen.com/ ctk974

You don’t.

mwatcher

Why not just go back to the original DS if that’s the case lol

midgard229

wtf is this? how does it fit in the pocket?

XypherCode

Great for kids diving into Pokemon for the first time. They don’t need 3D for that. Heck the game already uses 3D models so need for the stereoscopic effect. A smart decision to have the launch date the same as with Pokemon X/Y. Maybe I’ll buy one for my sister. :)

Eric Harris

Yeah, I mean, why do I want to see stereoscopic 3D when there are polygons on a flat screen. Same difference right? Cha bro.

Ramengeddon

I now know what this thing is good for. A cheap way to play those Japanese titles you always wanted to play. Suddenly this is the best thing ever!!!

s07195

Way to put things in the positive light! I just noticed that this means I might have a cheap option to play US version games.

Silent

The cutest slice of cheese ever.

Anime10121

Like the idea of a 2D “3DS”, hate the design/non clamshell look. I never used the 3D anyway and would have always preferred a cheaper 2D model, but this, this thing looks hideous :(

Göran Isacson

“If 3D wasn’t selling and wasn’t part of our future, we wouldn’t be seeing and enjoying the robust sales we have on 3DS right now”

AHA, AAHAHA, AAaaahh… or, you know, Pokemon. Mario. Any other game which doesn’t utilize 3D in any great capacity but who are just good games. Those might also be a reason for the great sales. You know. Just saying.

ANYHOW. After looking over this thing I can… sort of see the reasoning? Like someone said here, clam-shells would be easier to break than this design. And maybe this is also an experiment to create a better fit for peoples hands? You hear a lot of people complaining that holding the 3DS gives them cramps, so maybe this will be more comfortable for peopels hands to hold in the long run? The shoulder buttons apparently have indentations now as well, so that’s another point in the “ergonomic experiment” column. However the start button is apparently located uncomfortably close to the right hands palm, so we’ll see if this new design will cause a large number of angry console throws since one inadvertedly shut the game off…

But, yeah. A cheaper version that seems much simpler to handle. A “toy” version of 3DS (which is already a toy but I digress…) that’s perhaps easier for a child reared on touchscreens and tablets to “get”. Because maybe that’s the REAL plan here: design a console that looks a lot more like the iPads and the iPhones that tons of children are already gaming on, in order to sway them to the Nintendo side easier. You never know, you never know…

Laer_HeiSeiRyuu

Kid Icarus wouldnt have sold a million copies…

Göran Isacson

… Iiif not what? I’m sorry, I don’t really get where your comment is coming from.

LM009

this is exactly why i disliked 3ds as a system(games are great) it is ultimately a slightly beefed up DS the 3D shit is rarely worthwhile hell I have it off like 99% of the time and I only turn it on for cutscene effects. Yet when they introduced it they acted like they revolutionized the frigging game console industry.

Enzo

Saying the 3DS is only a “slightly beefed up DS” is like saying the PS3 is only a “slightly beefed up PS2.”

Bobby Jennings

Not even. There’s a big different between PS3 and PS2. 3DS and DS…not much.

Enzo

You seriously are going to argue this? So I guess the difference between the DS and PSP was barely any different. The ignorance is strong in this one. It is very much a comparable situation.

Bobby Jennings

Depends. Are we talking about the difference between DS and PSP or PS2 and PS3?

Enzo

In terms of power, the DS and 3DS are not anywhere close to each other. There are also lots of functions available on 3DS that doesn’t exist on the DS. To say the difference between the DS and 3DS is that the 3DS is only “slightly beefed up” is just flat out wrong. I’ve played the DS, the 3DS, PSP, and the PS Vita. DS and 3DS difference is in no way “slight.” There’s a pretty large difference between the two besides 3D.

LM009

You’ve played them? I own all of them. My judgment is on playing dozens of games and spec-wise for the time of its release, 3DS was merely a mini upgrade. On the other hand, PSP vs Vita there was a jump there and its failings lie in marketing not the console itself.

Enzo

Let me clarify. I have a PS Vita and a 3DS. I have DS games and 3DS games, and PSP games and PS Vita games. That’s more than enough, and I am very educated on the matter at hand, and you’re clearly biased against Nintendo if you seriously think the difference between the DS and 3DS was “merely a mini upgrade” while the PSP vs PS Vita was a “jump.” That literally makes no sense given the hard data and specs of all four systems.

LM009

you should look at the specs, vita is a quad core processor and 512MB RAM from PSP’s single core and 64MB. Vita should be able to play PS3 level games if devs optimize the game well. 3ds is what? just dual core 128mb RAM from single core 4MB RAM, my phone can do better than my 3DS. 3DS games do look better sure but that’s to be expected, Nintendo really did not push 3DS specs that much.

Enzo

No, what you were saying was that the DS and 3DS difference is pretty much not there. 4 MB vs 128 MB is a bigger difference than 64 MB vs 512 MB. Also, you are ONLY talking about the amount of “cores” and RAM, which barely says anything. But the RAM alone proves your original point to be 100% false. You said “slightly beefed up.” Nothing about over 30x more RAM is “slightly.”

What you’re doing is also ignoring the fact that not all RAM is the same. The type of RAM in the 3DS is also more efficient than the one in the PS VIta, albeit in much lesser quantity making the 3DS still of lesser power in terms of just RAM. The other thing you failed to mention is the much more modern architecture and hardware in general of the 3DS over the DS. The 3DS also has that advantage over the PSP. Your statement about the 3DS, no matter how you twist it, is just wrong. There literally is nothing “slight” about it.

Also, you talk about what is “expected” is total bull shit. If you want to talk about expectations, you wouldn’t have brought up the DS’ graphics at all. It only proves how biased you are. I’m not saying the 3DS has amazing graphics, but compared to the DS it does. You’re trying to say it doesn’t.

And saying how your “phone can do better.” Your phone can technically do better than the PS Vita as well. Your point is still total bull shit.

Laer_HeiSeiRyuu

All you’re seeing is graphics.

LM009

cuz that’s all i was arguing. I never said 3DS games are worse cuz vita has a terrible library by comparison. but graphics wise DS to 3DS there really wasn’t much.

Laer_HeiSeiRyuu

Nah its quite the difference.

DS was N64 level with modern tech 3DS is post gamecube/wii levels

fool

I personally really enjoy the 3D on my 3DS. I leave it on max all the time…

I hope Nintendo does a polished revision that’s something in between the original and the XL though…I’d like to upgrade my launch model some day and I can’t justify an XL

Bigabu Beaze

Londo Bell!

http://iron2000.blogspot.com/ iron2000

Ok, I’m start to see this as a cheaper way to gain access to the 3DS game library.

Buy 2 different region sets to play region locked games :P

JuhRo

:D Perfect chance to import a Japan-region one for cheap, right?

Bigabu Beaze

Is this going to come out in japan?

JuhRo

Hmm… I suppose that’s not verified…

Laer_HeiSeiRyuu

Do I look like someone who buys Nintendo products for Mario?

Do I ? Seriously ask yourself that and understand what you’re saying to people before you expunge yourself.

JuhRo

The site is 50/50.. :D

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